Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko today thanked the Swedish government for a $100 million loan for Kiev’s cash-strapped economy, one piece of a multi billion dollar package the country needs to avoid collapse.

“The government of Sweden has taken the decision to provide a $100 million loan to Ukraine,” Poroshenko said in a joint press conference with Swedish premier Stefan Loefven who is on a visit to the Ukrainian capital.

“The Swedish government is taking care of the interest on this loan themselves,” Poroshenko said, thanking Loefven for the decision and calling Sweden “a true friend of Ukraine” though without immediately clarifying the details of the loan.

Ukraine’s international partners are expected to put together an aid package worth around $40 billion over four years.

The cornerstone of that would be an IMF bailout of $17.5 billion over the next four years, with the IMF expected to make a decision later Wednesday over the funding.

Poroshenko voiced confidence in a positive outcome.

“I am sure that today there will be a positive decision (on the IMF loan),” Poroshenko said. “Today it will be a historical decision.”

Analysts have said Ukraine has but a few months before its economy collapses, making the loan a crucial lifeline. Kiev says it has met all the requirements to qualify for the bailout by pushing through a package of draconian reforms in recent weeks which included tripling the price of gas for households.

The austerity measures come on top of an already crippled economic base where a lot of the country’s industrial core in the east has either stopped working or was physically destroyed in the fighting with pro-Russia separatists.

Last week Ukraine’s central bank considerably hiked its base interest rate to 30 percent to stem further depreciation of a plummeting hryvnia and combat inflation.

“When I am asked how much financial assistance I expect, I say — the more the better,” said Poroshenko. “The total package being put together to help Ukraine… should be over $40 billion today.”

Prime Minister Tsipras: “We are not in a hurry and we will not compromise”

On Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a vote in the Greek parliament on whether to scrap the austerity programme on Friday, the same day as the eurozone deadline.

“We will not succumb to psychological blackmail,” Mr Tsipras told parliament. “We are not in a hurry and we will not compromise.”

US investment bank JP Morgan claimed over the weekend that €2bn worth of deposits was flowing out of Greek banks each week. It estimated that if that were to remain the case, they would run out of cash to use as collateral against new loans within 14 weeks.

JP Morgan’s estimate is based on a calculation that a maximum of €108bn of deposits is left in Greek banks.

The most up-to-date figures from the Greek central bank show deposits dropped 2.4% month-on-month in December to €160.3bn from €164.3bn, marking the third consecutive monthly fall.

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What would happen if Greece left the euro? Grexit explained – in 60 seconds

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is also chairing the Eurogroup meetings of eurozone finance ministers, warned on Monday night there were just days left for talks.

Mr Dijsselbloem said it was now “up to Greece” to decide if it wanted more funding or not.

Analysis: Theo Leggett, BBC business reporter:

The apparent deadlock in Brussels is hardly surprising, because the two sides have very different goals.

The Greek government wants to scrap the current bailout deal, because of the very painful programme of spending cuts and other austerity measures that come with it. Instead, it wants a bridging loan to help it meet its short term needs, while a new deal is hammered out. Having been elected on an anti-austerity ticket, it can’t afford to back down, or it will be accused of betraying Greek voters.

But other members of the eurozone, and Germany in particular, have a very different agenda. They want Greece to accept an extension to the current deal – with the rather uncertain promise of “flexibility” if it plays ball.

They don’t want to show any signs of weakness, because of the signal that could send to anti-austerity movements in countries such as Spain, Portugal or Cyprus.

It would also be politically toxic in Germany, where many voters dislike the idea that they are paying for Greece’s mistakes.

That doesn’t mean a compromise is impossible. It simply means any deal would have to be presented as both an end to the current austerity programme and a continuation of it. A political fudge, in other words – and Brussels has plenty of experience in putting those together. So a short-term solution is possible, but far from certain.

Key dates for Greece – and the eurozone

28 February – Current programme of loans ends

First quarter of 2015 – Greece’s funding needs estimated at €4.3bn by end of March

19-20 March – EU leaders’ summit

20 July – €3.5bn bonds held by the European Central Bank mature

20 August – €3.2bn bonds held by the European Central Bank mature

Greece has proposed a new bailout programme that involves a bridging loan to keep the country going for six months and help it repay €7bn (£5.2bn) of maturing bonds.

The second part of the plan would see the county’s debt refinanced. Part of this might be through “GDP bonds” – bonds carrying an interest rate linked to economic growth.

Greece also wants to see a reduction in the primary surplus target – the surplus the government must generate (excluding interest payments on debt) – from 3% to 1.49% of GDP.

In Greece last week, two opinion polls indicated that 79% of Greeks supported the government’s policies, and 74% believed its negotiating strategy would succeed.

More on This Story

Last night’s acrimonious breakdown of talks to refinance Greece presents Germany and other eurozone government’s with their toughest decision since the single currency’s creation in 1999.

Russian policy makers’ latest bid to shore up the nation’s currency sounds complex but is actually simple: They will take rubles out of the hands of banks.

Fewer rubles means bankers will have less cash to buy dollars. That in turn will stem the selloff in the ruble. Or so goes the argument. On day one, the plan — or at least the unveiling of the plan — worked. The ruble surged 1.7 percent yesterday to 45.8525 per dollar, rebounding from a record low even as policy makers simultaneously took other steps to allow it to trade freely.

The risk is that the strategy could deepen the economy’s slump. Just as bankers will have fewer rubles to buy dollars, they will also have less rubles to lend to companies and consumers, choking off credit in an economy already on the verge of recession amid the strain of international sanctions tied to the Ukraine conflict. The Bank of Russia is offering the least seven-day loans, or repos, in a month at an auction today.

“This is the right thing to do,” Paulo Vieira da Cunha, a former Brazilian central bank board member who is now the chief economist at hedge fund Ice Canyon LLC, said in a phone interview from New York yesterday. “They could squeeze domestic liquidity, but if it’s too hard, some of the firms and banks will go under. I am not sure they are willing to pay the price.”

In announcing the policy change yesterday, central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina revealed few details, saying only that she will limit ruble funding to squeeze speculators betting against the currency. The comments come 10 days after Nabiullina raised the benchmark lending rate 1.5 percentage points to 9.5 percent, showing that she is relying more on monetary tools to defend the ruble.

Previously, the policy had been based more on selling dollars and euros to meet Russians’ demand for foreign currencies, a strategy that has triggered an $83 billion drop in the country’s international reserves this year. The ruble’s 29 percent decline since the end of December has added to inflation pressures, spurred capital outflows and made it more difficult for Russian firms to pay back foreign-currency debt.

The central bank said yesterday that it will stop selling $350 million daily to support the ruble when it falls beyond its trading band, moving toward a free-floating currency. Policy makers reiterated that they still could intervene in the foreign-exchange market if they deem it necessary to preserve “financial stability.”

‘Painful Measure’

While Nabiullina didn’t elaborate on her plan, Danske Bank A/S and Renaissance Capital Ltd. said the central bank will probably curtail the amount of rubles offered to lenders through repurchase auctions and currency swaps.

At the last offering of week-long repurchase agreements, or repos, on Oct. 31, lenders borrowed 2.85 trillion rubles ($62 billion), up from a nine-month low of 1.83 trillion on Sept. 30. At today’s auction, the central bank is making 2.7 trillion rubles available.

In a repo operation, the central bank buys securities such as government bonds from lenders for a set period, temporarily raising the amount of money available in the banking system. Forcing the banks to return the money at maturity, rather than rolling it over into a new repo, would leave them with less cash in their coffers.

“We consider this as a potentially painful measure,” Oleg Kouzmin, an economist at Renaissance, said by e-mail. In the worst case, it may result in a shortage of rubles in the domestic money market, Kouzmin said.

Putin Speaks

Russia’s central bank has struggled to stem the ruble’s decline as fighting flares anew in Ukraine and crude oil, a major export, trades at a four-year low.

The ruble, which traded 0.7 percent lower at 11:43 a.m. in Moscow, fell 8 percent against the dollar last week and is the world’s second-worst performing currency this year after Ukraine’s hryvnia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Russia’s currency is heading for the worst year since 1998, when the country defaulted on $40 billion of local debt.

The selloff has no fundamental basis and volatility will ease as the central bank steps up the fight against speculation, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.

While the ruble’s slump helped boost inflation to a three-year high of 8.3 percent last month, the depreciation has benefited state-run energy exporters, who get their revenue in dollars and have mainly ruble-based costs. That has helped the government boost its budget surplus by 70 percent in the first nine months.

Preserving Reserves

“Putin wants the ruble to be weaker, though not to an absurdly low level,” Jean-David Haddad, a strategist at OTCex Group in Paris, said by e-mail. “Only a weaker ruble can partially offset weaker oil prices.”

Policy makers last week brought forward plans for a free-floating currency after a larger-than-estimated interest rate increase on Oct. 31 failed to halt the ruble rout.

The previous policy required the central bank to buy rubles every time it weakened beyond a prescribed trading band, a predictable system that drained reserves and spurred traders to bet on further weakness.

The central bank last week restricted those interventions to once a day, before abolishing them entirely yesterday. It will now intervene in the market with undisclosed quantities to defend against “threats” to financial stability.

“This is a central bank looking to preserve its foreign-exchange reserves as a priority,” Tom Levinson, the chief currency and interest rates strategist at Sberbank CIB in Moscow, said in e-mailed comments. By keeping the ability to sell foreign currency unannounced, “it is accepting elevated volatility, but not persistent extreme volatility,” he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund board on Wednesday approved a two-year, $17 billion loan package for cash-strapped Ukraine as it seeks to regain stability following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The IMF assistance pledged in March was hinged on economic reforms in Ukraine, including raising taxes, freezing the minimum wage and raising energy prices — all steps that could hit households hard and strain the interim government’s tenuous hold on power.

“Urgent actions were necessary. Urgent decisions were taken by Ukraine and decisions now have just been taken by the IMF,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters at the monetary fund’s headquarters.

Ukraine’s interim government finds itself caught between the demands of international creditors and a restive population that has endured decades of economic stagnation, corruption and mismanagement.

The IMF’s decision to approve the $17 billion loan paves the way for Ukraine to receive $15 billion in additional assistance pledged by the World Bank, the European Union, Canada, Japan and other European entities, and $1 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. that Congress recently approved. As part of the deal, Ukraine will be required to use some of the $17 billion loan to repay money it already owes the monetary fund.

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, is in turmoil after Russia annexed Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has massed 40,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine in what many fear is the first step to an invasion. Russia’s actions have created a standoff with the United States and many European nations.

“Today’s final approval for the $17 billion IMF program marks a crucial milestone for Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. “The IMF program, in conjunction with bilateral assistance from the United States and other nations, will enable Ukraine to build on the progress already achieved to overcome deep-seated economic challenges and help the country return to a path of economic stability and growth.”

Lagarde said there were risks to the IMF loan but that Ukraine had demonstrated during the past few weeks that it can undertake reforms, such as ones addressing its exchange rate and the price of natural gas. “We believe that Ukraine has an opportunity to seize the moment,” she said.

Asked about recent sanctions that the U.S. and European Union have imposed on Russia, Lagarde said only that the IMF was not designing sanctions, but was trying to improve the situation in Ukraine so that stability can be restored.

“We very strongly encourage the parties to negotiate to come to terms, and whether it’s a question of the future price of gas, the payment of arrears — we very much hope the partners will find an agreement,” she said.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund board on Wednesday approved a two-year, $17 billion loan package for cash-strapped Ukraine as it seeks to regain stability following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The IMF assistance pledged in March was hinged on economic reforms in Ukraine, including raising taxes, freezing the minimum wage and raising energy prices — all steps that could hit households hard and strain the interim government’s tenuous hold on power.

“Urgent actions were necessary. Urgent decisions were taken by Ukraine and decisions now have just been taken by the IMF,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters at the monetary fund’s headquarters.

Ukraine’s interim government finds itself caught between the demands of international creditors and a restive population that has endured decades of economic stagnation, corruption and mismanagement.

The IMF’s decision to approve the $17 billion loan paves the way for Ukraine to receive $15 billion in additional assistance pledged by the World Bank, the European Union, Canada, Japan and other European entities, and $1 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. that Congress recently approved. As part of the deal, Ukraine will be required to use some of the $17 billion loan to repay money it already owes the monetary fund.

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, is in turmoil after Russia annexed Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has massed 40,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine in what many fear is the first step to an invasion. Russia’s actions have created a standoff with the United States and many European nations.

“Today’s final approval for the $17 billion IMF program marks a crucial milestone for Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. “The IMF program, in conjunction with bilateral assistance from the United States and other nations, will enable Ukraine to build on the progress already achieved to overcome deep-seated economic challenges and help the country return to a path of economic stability and growth.”

Lagarde said there were risks to the IMF loan but that Ukraine had demonstrated during the past few weeks that it can undertake reforms, such as ones addressing its exchange rate and the price of natural gas. “We believe that Ukraine has an opportunity to seize the moment,” she said.

Asked about recent sanctions that the U.S. and European Union have imposed on Russia, Lagarde said only that the IMF was not designing sanctions, but was trying to improve the situation in Ukraine so that stability can be restored.

“We very strongly encourage the parties to negotiate to come to terms, and whether it’s a question of the future price of gas, the payment of arrears — we very much hope the partners will find an agreement,” she said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress was near passage Tuesday of a bill to provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to cash-poor Ukraine and take punitive measures against Russia for its brazen annexation of part of the former Soviet satellite nation. Once passed by the House, it would be sent to President Barack Obama.

Russia’s incursion into Crimea has forged a deep rift between Moscow and Washington and the bill, which has bipartisan support, is a way for Congress to denounce Russia’s aggressive move and express support for Kiev.

If signed into law, the loan guarantees would help stabilize Ukraine’s economy. The bill authorizes $50 million to improve democratic governance and rule of law and fight corruption; support fair elections; and bolster civil society organizations.

The bill authorizes an additional $100 million to beef up security cooperation among the United States, European Union and countries in central and eastern Europe and further authorizes the president to provide defense help and additional security assistance to Ukraine and other countries in the region.

Targeting Russia, the bill would supplement sanctions the Obama administration has already taken by freezing assets and revoking visas of Russian officials and their associates who are complicit in or responsible for significant corruption in Ukraine. The measure also would sanction those who are responsible for human rights abuses against anti-government protesters and the undermining of the peace and sovereignty of Ukraine.

The U.S. has warned that further Russian incursions could result in broader penalties targeting the Russian economy, including its robust energy sector. But administration officials acknowledge that American sanctions wouldn’t have the same kind of bite as European penalties, given Europe’s deeper economic ties with Russia.

A separate bill expected to clear Congress would provide money to step up Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts to counter pro-Russian broadcasts in the area. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says Moscow is using propaganda to sow confusion and fear in the Ukraine.

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million people, has been struggling to regain stability since pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February. He was booted after months of protests sparked by his decision to back away from closer relations with the European Union and turn toward Russia.

Since then, Russia has moved thousands of troops to areas near the Ukrainian border, sparking fears in the U.S. and Europe that Putin could make a play for more territory.

In Kiev, Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned his country is on the brink of economic and financial bankruptcy. Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has said it needs $35 billion over the next two years to avoid default.

The International Monetary Fund last week pledged up to $18 billion in loans, hinged on structural reforms. The reforms demanded by the IMF, which include raising taxes, freezing the minimum wage and hiking energy prices, will hit households hard and are likely to strain the interim government’s tenuous hold on power. Other donors, including the European Union and Japan, have already pledged further aid to Ukraine. The total amount of international assistance will be about $27 billion over the next two years.

Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now an analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, said the Ukrainian economy is in deep trouble, and every $1 billion will help.

The IMF program, which will total $14 billion to $18 billion over two years, will be distributed in tranches as Ukraine implements reforms, he said. The IMF board still needs to approve the money, so ‘‘the U.S. loan guarantees will help Kiev bridge the time from now until the IMF funding begins to flow,’’ Pifer said.

Ariel Cohen, an expert on Russian and Eurasian affairs at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said the $1 billion the U.S. is providing in loan guarantees, coupled with the IMF and EU pledges, is a start to help Ukraine.

‘‘But it doesn’t resolve the problem, which is that Ukraine does not generate enough growth and income to plug the budgetary holes created by energy dependence on Russia,’’ Cohen said.

On Tuesday, Moscow sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine and threatened to reclaim billions in previous discounts, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government.

President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, will lead… Read More

President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, will lead discussions at the sixth meeting of an intergovernmental commission in Moscow tomorrow, with a “substantial” package of agreements set to be signed, the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement today. Close

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OpenPhotographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, will lead discussions at the sixth meeting of an intergovernmental commission in Moscow tomorrow, with a “substantial” package of agreements set to be signed, the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement today.

Russia is in talks with Ukraine on providing a loan, the Finance Ministry said as the cash-strapped east European nation races to avoid default.

President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, will lead discussions at the sixth meeting of an intergovernmental commission in Moscow tomorrow, with a “substantial” package of agreements set to be signed, the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement today. The Finance Ministry’s press office in Moscow declined to elaborate on the negotiations in a written reply to questions from Bloomberg.

Ukraine has been gripped since last month by the biggest protests in almost a decade after Yanukovych pulled out of a planned cooperation pact with the European Union. With the economy ensnared in its third recession since 2008 and foreign-currency reserves at a seven-year low, the country needs at least $10 billion to avoid default, First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said Dec. 7.

“I don’t rule out the possibility that the loan will be extended — should such a request come,” Andrei Belousov, Putin’s top economic aide and a former economy minister, was cited as saying by state-run RIA Novosti’s Prime news service. “The situation in Ukraine is such that economic stability won’t be maintained without loans of some kind.”

Ukraine’s hryvnia weakened 0.2 percent against the dollar to 8.2850 as of 10:25 a.m. in Kiev. The yield on Ukraine’s dollar-denominated notes due 2023 fell four basis points, or 0.4 percentage point, to 10.12 percent. The cost to insure the country’s debt against non-payment for five years using credit-default swaps was little changed at 1,056.61, the highest in Europe.

Ukrainian U-Turn

The second-most populous ex-Soviet country last month backed out of a trade deal with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia. Yanukovych walked away from the EU deal after Russia, which supplies 60 percent of Ukraine’s natural gas and buys a quarter of its exports, threatened trade sanctions.

The Ukrainian government has failed to reach a deal over a $15 billion facility with the International Monetary Fund, disagreeing over energy subsidies.

At tomorrow’s meeting in Moscow, Russian and Ukrainian officials will discuss the key questions of bilateral relations, including energy, agriculture, investments and others, according to the Kremlin statement.

Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said last week that Ukraine couldn’t join his country’s customs bloc with Kazakhstan and Belarus anytime soon. Speculation that a deal on its membership in the trade bloc was imminent stoked Ukrainian protests in recent weeks.

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